Bad flu season leaves Reckitt feeling good

An awful year for flu in Europe and North America triggered healthy profit growth for Lemsip maker Reckitt Benckiser.

The flu season was both heavier and longer, meaning Reckitt sold more Lemsip, Nurofen and Strepsils in the UK and Europe, and extra Mucinex on the other side of the Atlantic.

Healthcare products now make up more than a quarter of the company’s revenues after a series of over-the-counter medicines takeovers, and the category saw sales up 16% in the second quarter.

Meanwhile, Reckitt faces accusations of preventing competition for its Gavescon heartburn medicine — at an alleged cost of millions to the NHS — and its Suboxone heroin addiction treatments in the US. Today it set aside £225 million to pay for potential costs of ongoing investigations “by various government authorities in a number of markets”.